VF Spoof Bumps New Yorker

It supported a lunatic idea, without slamming an established one

(NEWSER) - The now-infamous New Yorker cover depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as Muslim extremists rankled readers because it is not satire, Lee Siegel argues in the New York Times. Satire tackles "social rottenness once it has become a visible and established part of life," writes Siegel. But the New Yorker gave mainstream credence to a notion of the lunatic fringe. More»

Stewart and Colbert recreate the controversial cartoon for EW cover

(NEWSER) - Taking their spoofing of TV into print, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart grace the cover of this week’s Entertainment Weekly in imitation of the Obamas-as-terrorists New Yorker cover that set media of all kinds afire in July. The stunt surely threatens to obscure the question-and-answer session it’s intended to advertise, but the duo cheerily critiques the campaign and its characters regardless. More»

Cynicism has killed satire, perhaps even humor altogether, in post 9/11 age

(NEWSER) - Many writers are scratching their heads at the incensed reactions provoked by the New Yorker’s Obamas-as-terrorists cover. Here’s some rebuttal:

• Liberals “have come to regard all images or texts that contain negative stereotypes as too politically dangerous to run,” Gary Kamiya writes in Salon. “Not a single work of satire could ever pass this paranoid test” in which merely acknowledging racism “is to be racist.”

'Offensive' drawing features Barack in turban, rifle-toting wife

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's campaign has ripped an "offensive" New Yorker cover illustration depicting the candidate in a turban, fist-bumping his afro-sporting, AK-47-toting wife, Politico reports. The cover, intended by the magazine to lampoon the cartoonish image of Obama propagated by some of his right-wing critics, has sparked a flurry of denunciations. More»

Winfrey-Obama relationship breaks down, Edward Klein alleges

(NEWSER) - BFFs no more? A new, unauthorized, and contentious Barack Obama biography alleges that the relationship between Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey has been deteriorating ever since the early days of Obama’s presidency, the Telegraph reports. According to The Amateur, by former New York Times Magazine editor Edward Klein, Obama advisers Valerie Jarrett and Desirée Rogers grew worried about Winfrey’s closeness to the Obama family and Michelle herself became jealous of the influence Winfrey had over her husband. More»